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0 There is nothing better than seeing that one guy at the gym that only believes in upper body. Day after day all he does is lift arms and that’s just about it. Doing all of this in one of those obnoxious stinger tanks and short shorts. Why would you ever where short shorts when your calf muscle is about the size of your wrist?
I believe the goal of weight training is to get bigger, faster and stronger but do it proportionally. That means you need to work every muscle group weekly, and maybe some more than others depending on your preference, but more importantly, you should never skip leg day!
Why shouldn’t you? Well besides looking like a complete fool with this upside down bowling pin body, you are also missing out on great benefits for your body.
Here Are 3 Reasons To Never Skip Leg Day:
1) Release of more testosterone. Your legs are your biggest muscle, which means that it contains the most amount of testosterone. Mike Samuels says in his article that doing legs can even enhance the mass of your upper body. The more muscles you work in one session, the more growth hormone you produce and the greater your potential for overall muscle growth, in your legs and in other muscles, including your chest, back and arms.
2) Burns more fat. The way to burn more fat is to incorporate multi-joint compound exercises. An easier way to think about this is to picture yourself doing a bicep curl. What joints are you working? Mostly ones just in your elbow in that specific arm. Now picture doing a squat, you are incorporating almost every joint from your hips down to your feet. Lower body exercise incorporate a lot more of your body then an upper body exercise would, forcing your body to use more energy, resulting in burning more calories and fat.
3) Become a Better Athlete. Working out in general will help an individual become a better athlete. Performing weight bearing exercises helps to increase stronger bones and increase your balance. When individuals only workout their upper body they are leaving their lower body with weaker bones then they have in their upper body. Having a weaker lower body results in a loss of balance and agility because your body is not equally as strong all around. “A well-developed lower body will allow you to exert a maximal amount of force in a minimal amount of time, which in turn makes you faster and more explosive,” says Jen Sinkler, an author, personal trainer, former athlete and founder of Lift Weights Faster.
What Exercise Should You Do?
If you want to start incorporating legs into you workout schedule, go to our workout plans page and use our leg workout plan (either the lean plan or strength plan depending on your goals). If you are looking for something out of the ordinary, you can check out our workouts of the day. Each week we try to change up a normal workout routine by incorporating HIIT training into our workouts. This is perfect for people who only have about 45 minutes to an hour to workout each day.
Recap
The main point I am getting at is that leg day is a very important day. Don’t be that guy or girl that has a big upper body then this little lower body that can hardly support your upper body. I try to incorporate legs at least 2 times a week. One workout is focused on heavier weight and mostly concentrate on power lifting lifts such as dead lifts and squat. The other workout is when I do squat but for reps rather than for weight and i also incorporate a lot of machines such as leg extensions and leg press to concentrate on some of those smaller muscle groups in your legs. Remember the 3 reasons to never skip leg day and start seeing advancements in your fitness journey!
Legs=GAINS
Don’t be this guy
I always laugh at the guys at the gym whose legs look like tooth picks. I just cant understand why someone would only work out one portion of your body. Obviously you’re gonna become out of proportion! I love your blog.
I have question for you then; I tore my ACL, MCL, and my knee cap came loose couple years ago. I have had the surgery to repair all this, the doctors said I could bike and run but do not try lifting heavy weight with it for year and half so that the muscles can fully heal. My question comes to what exercise or training routine is the best to get back started?It still hurts when doing lunges but does not when I tired squatting or doing any machine workout.
My cousin is a personal trainer and talks about the importance working out your legs. You hit on each and every point that he usually talks about in that working out your legs can increase the strength in your upper body as well as burn more fat because you are using bigger muscle groups. That picture that you have at the bottom of your blog is priceless. I don’t know how many times I have seen someone that looks like that at the gym and thinks it looks good.
I really like this blog mainly because I workout everyday during the week. Coming from a guy that’s not as strong and big as most gyms at the gym, I enjoy the fact that I’m at least proportional head to toe. I don’t see the point in the people who skip legs when they’re your most important muscles! But I liked how you spilt up the three main reasons why working out legs is so beneficial to one’s body.
I have to say that picture was so funny because everyday you see guys like that. I did not know that doing legs could help build your upper body. I will definitely change my routine accordingly and do legs twice a week knowing all this now.
You are so right, people forget just how important working your lower body is. Not only does it make you look like you are proportionate, but it helps increase your overall strength throughout your body. Lower body workouts suck, but they are extremely important to anyone trying to improve overall body strength. This was a great, and extremely informative post, thanks for the insight my man.